1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates essentially to a process for the construction of Civil Engineering works, such as swimming pools or water tanks in particular, installed on the grounds, that must comprise a wall or structure made of a mechanically-resistant reinforced concrete filled in situ by means of panels made, at least in part, of two sheets of suitable plastic material such as polypropylene and the like, held together by appropriate bracing structures, forming at least in part a dead form structure and cooperating in the construction of the work.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many processes and devices for the construction of such works using various dead form structures are already known.
Some processes use, for instance, dead form structures along the total height of the wall to be built, juxtaposed and assembled with one another by various means. Such form structures usually tend to be impractical, their versatility of use is extremely limited, they are too bulky for storage and transport purposes, and are not suitable overall for the construction of a perfectly watertight continuous concrete wall.
Other processes and devices use the conventional technique consisting in mounting a wall by means of hollow blocks which, for a swimming pool, can be made of polystyrene foam or the like. Such blocks are easy to use but the rigidity of the form structure before the setting of the concrete is problematic, the setting of the irons is difficult and the volume of such blocks is very high, which does not make for easy storage and transport.
In his prior patent FR 2 724 680, the applicant already described an improved panel forming dead form structure for the construction of such auto-stable works. This invention relates to an improvement of this technique aimed at promoting precision in its implementation, while reducing considerably the storage volume of the materials to be used, particularly that of the dead form panels, as well as greatly decreasing the volume of concrete needed to achieve the rigidity required in such construction.
The process according to this invention is different from those of the prior art in that, after digging in the grounds an excavation of appropriate dimensions, feet are set and suitably wedged on the excavation bottom, on a level and with the desired alignments, near the excavation walls. These feet comprise at least two elevated walls delimiting a passageway in and on which the lower part of said panels will be laid and wedged. Said feet are designed, on the outside of the work toward the grounds, with a large opening in which are wedged chimneys that will be fastened to the panels all the way up to the upper part of said panels. Above the chimneys and against the panels outer upper part, is set a gully that goes around the work. Concrete or concrete mortar is poured into said gully to form the upper clamping of the work by filling the chimneys and overflowing on the panels lower part, after having placed inside the chimneys and in the gully the necessary reinforcements irons, thus forming vertical pillars that will hold the work all around.
According to another characteristic of the process of this invention, the concrete for the work apron and the concrete for the pillars are poured simultaneously.
According to yet another characteristic of the process of this invention, the reinforcement irons of the pillars are interlocked with those of the upper clamping and of the apron before the concrete is poured.
This invention also comprises means for the implementation of the process described above, and particularly feet designed to stabilize the panels, characterized in that they are essentially in a pyramidal prismatic shape with, at their top, a large quadrangular opening in which can be inserted the wall of the chimneys through which will be poured the concrete forming the pillars, and comprising on one side two walls forming an elevated passageway over the base of said feet, the width of this passageway being fitted to receive the lower part of the panels.
Among the new means of this invention is the use of panels characterized in that they are formed by two sheets of an appropriate plastic material such as polypropylene and the like, linked and braced via a network of complementary pins and openings designed opposite one another on the inner faces of the two sheets and that come to interlock when said sheets are forcibly assembled. According to one embodiment, said sheets are designed with stiffening ribs in their inner face. In this case, such thin panels have a great rigidity together with a small volume, which greatly facilitates the storage and transport.
According to another embodiment, the panels may not be ribbed. Then their rigidity can result from the pouring of the concrete between the two panel sheets via the gully that goes around the upper part of the work.
The invention and its implementation will become more apparent from the following description, together with the accompanying drawings.